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Reading the electronic way: 6 factors to finding the best ereader for your needs (with video)

Did you know Vancouver Public Library has a large collection of e-books available to members? Watch this easy how-to video with reporter Gillian Shaw.

Choosing an ebook reader used to be easy.

There was virtually no choice.

If you wanted a device that would let you download electronic books and carry around your own personal library you could buy a Kindle. And back in 2007 when Amazon introduced its first Kindle, you could only buy it in the United States.

But the ereader market has grown and today ereaders come in a wide range of prices, functions and features.

And competition in the fast-growing tablet market has also prompted a number of hybrid devices from ereader makers, expanding the choice for consumers even more.

Most recently Amazon announced that its Kindle Fire, that company’s answer to the ereader/tablet hybrid market, is available for pre-order in Canada with shipping to start June 13.

While predictions vary, with some analysts suggesting ereaders will be edged out by tablets, last December’s holiday sales tallied by the Pew Research Centre found that ebook reader ownership jumped to 19 per cent from 10 per cent among adults in the United States.

Libraries are seeing growing demand for ebooks. Vancouver’s Public Library hosts workshops on buying an ereader and how to electronically borrow books, whether it’s for an ereader, tablet or other computing device.

“Every year in the past few years the borrowing of ebooks has more than doubled,” said Christina de Castell, director, resources and technology for the library. “We’re now lending 600 ebooks a day, which works out to more than 133,000 books in 2012.

“That is about 10 per cent of print borrowing for a similar type of book.”

de Castell said the trend at the library is similar to the consumer market although it has been somewhat slowed because some major publishers including Macmillan, Simon and Schuster and Penguin don’t have titles available for libraries in Canada although that is expected to change next year.

“The supply has vastly improved,” she said of the library’s ebook resources. “On popular books, there is maybe a wait with one or two people and a lot of books you can borrow right away.

“We monitor waiting lists very closely and when it gets to more than six we buy more.”

de Castell said people download books to a variety of devices including ereaders and tablet computers such as iPads and others.

As an avid reader and iPad owner, at first I didn’t see the point in buying yet another tablet device but two factors convinced me that an ereader was worthwhile. The screen on an ereader is e-ink, making it more like reading from a printed page than a computer screen. And while it may not be that the bright screen on my iPad keeps me awake if I read before I go to sleep, research suggests the glow from backlit screens could contribute to insomnia. Added to that is size and weight — I don’t need the heft and screen size of my iPad for reading a book.

But it wasn’t until I interviewed Michael Tamblyn, Kobo’s chief content officer, that I realized exactly why the one-device-fits-all scenario wasn’t working for me.

“Even though people have a camera in their cellphone, people who really care about photography have a high-end digital SLR,” he said. “It is sometimes simplistic to say all of this is going to converge in one device.”

But while all this choice is great for consumers, how do you decide which ereader is the one for you?

There is no one-size-fits-all. The ereader that your mother-in-law loves may not be best suited to you and you may hate the one everyone in your book club is raving about.

While price shouldn’t be the determining factor, as a starting point you have to look at ereaders that fit your budget. If you have no preset spending limit, skip this step. Just don’t think that more expensive necessarily means better for your needs. If you already have a tablet computer, the most basic ereader may all you want. There are a number of ereaders that fit in the sub-$100 category and some options include:

The six-inch Kindle, e-ink display, Wi-Fi connected at $80

Kobo mini at $80 and the Kobo touch at $100.

Sony’s Reader at $100

Here are six points to consider in choosing the best ereader for your needs.

1. Can you try before you buy?

While some shoppers headed south to pick up the Kindle before it was available here and also the Barnes and Noble Nook, unless you are absolutely certain of what you want, it’s best to try before you buy. While you can compare all the specs and dimensions without actually seeing the devices — picking up a demo unit, checking the screen, figuring out if it fits in your (man) purse or pocket — all this is important in helping to make your decision.

2. Form and Function

Compare factors like weight and screen size. Is it a colour screen, touchscreen, e-ink display or LCD? Are the controls intuitive or do you feel like you have to read the manual just to download a book?

Most traditional ebook readers have a six-inch e-ink screen, that is measured diagonally although there are both smaller — like the Kobo mini at five inches — and larger options, such as the seven-inch Kindle Fire. Maybe having something that’s ultra light and pocket-sized is more important to you than having a bigger screen and a long list of features. That comes back to deciding what your priorities are for your ereader — is it to double as a tablet for web surfing, email and online entertainment or is it simply your reading device?

3. Screen and Appearance

Some ereaders, like the Kobo Glo and the Amazon Paperwhite have front lit screens so you can read them in all lighting but for many e-ink readers you’ll need to use a light, just as you would if you were reading a print version of a book. You can buy little lights that attach to your ereader or covers that come with lights built in. Not all ereaders offer the same flexibility in fonts so if adjusting the size and font style is important to you, check the specs before you buy.

4. Format and Content

Among the specs on any ereader you’re considering, you can find a listing of content formats that are supported. With some ereaders, you can download books from virtually anywhere, you’re not bound to a single seller. Others are more restricted or you have to use workarounds to access a broader selection of books.

Canadian libraries have ebooks available for download and has someone who has probably paid enough library fines to buy at least one ereader, I think this counts as my favourite technological advance at the local library. With an ebook, you’re never late returning a borrowed book — it disappears automatically from your bookshelf. Kobo and Sony ereaders work with library ebooks in Canada while most Kindle models don’t support the open standard (EPUB) format used by libraries. However the Kindle Fire is the exception, you can use it to borrow books from Canadian libraries.

de Castell points out that if you want to be able to download library books while you’re travelling without having to plug into a computer, Sony ereaders are the best option.

5. Connectivity

While early ereaders had to be connected via USB cable to your computer to download books, now most have at least a Wi-Fi connection and some have cellular data as well. Connectivity is important to allow you to download books when you’re not near a computer.

6. Battery Life

One of the advantages of traditional ereaders is their long battery life. That’s because, compared to colour tablet computers that have more bells and whistles, there isn’t the heavy demand on the battery so it can go weeks between charges rather than hours.

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